Key-slip and fall-roard construction for player planos



Much 11, 1924; L 1 1,486,186

A. G. GULBRANSEN KEY SLIP AND FALL BOARD CONSTRUCTIN FOR PLAYER PIANOS original Fiied Feb. 2i, 1918 A J V 1 II v vez @gub/mn Patented Mar. 1l, 1924.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

AXEL Gr. GULBRANSEN. 0F CHICAGO, ILLINOIS. ASSIGNOR TO GULBRANSEN-DICKIN- SON COMPANY, OF CHICAGO, ILLINOIS, A CORPORATION OF ILLINOIS.

KEY-SLIP AND FALL-BOARD CONSTRUCTION FOR- ILAYER PIANOS.

Application filed February 21, 1918, Serial No. 2181.393.

To all Iwhom e'' may conce/im.

Be it known that I, AXEL G. GUL'nANsnN, a citizen of the United States, residing a Chicago, in the county of Cook and State of Illinois. have invented a certain new and useful Improvement in Key-Slip and Fall- Board Constructions for Player Pianos (Case 22), of which the following is a full, clear, concise, and exact description, reference being had to the accompanying drawin s, forming a part of this specification.

y invention relates to a player piano.

The particular object of thepresent invention is to provide an improved construction, consisting of a combined key slip and fallboard. It is customary in player pianos to mount expression levers or controls upon the bed of the piano infront of the keyboard.. This is a natural and most convenient location for them and it has been almost universally adopted. However, a smooth and finished piano exterior is highly desirable when the case is closed.

Heretofore these levers or controls have been covered by a key slip hinged at its lower front edge to the vupper edge of the bed or table. As this key slip must be high- 1y finished on all sides and must be fashioned or cut out by hand, it has been an expensive piece to manufacture.

According to my invention the key slip is connected to the fallboard. This fallboard and key slip are hinged in such. relation that they may be folded up together and swung back out of the way without requiring any additional room in the interior of the case. In this construction the key slip need not be hand fashioned nor need it be highly finished on the rear side.

In order to teach those skilled in the art how t0 practice my invention, I shall now describe a specific embodiment of my invention in connection with the accompanying drawings, which form a part of the present specification.

The single figure is a fragmentary vertical cross-section of a player piano embodying my invention. I have illustrated only suilcient of the piano case and mechanism to indicate the relation of the improved con- Serial No. 570,384.

struction to the rest of the device. The details of the piano action of the player mechanism do not enter into the present invention, so I shall not make detailed mention of them. l

The bed 1 is provided with a keyboard 2 of the usual construction, made up of keys for operating the piano action. The keys are pivoted on the balance rail 3 and extendl forward to a point adjacent the outer end of the bed.

I have indicated the pneumatics 4.- and the tracker box 5, all of which are disposed within the piano casing 6. The front part of the casing 6 comprises the fall shelf 7, which extends forward in a horizontal direction and beneath which fall shelf there is arranged a hinge rail 8. The hinge rail is disposed immediately above the keyboard 2 and 'forms a stationary support or anchorage for the fall board.

The fallboard 9 is of angular cross-section, having vertical leg extending sulstantially between the hinge rail 8 and the lower surface of vthe fall shelf 7. The horizontal leg 1l extends out part way over the keyboard. The two legs l() and 11 are of substantially the same length measured from the pivot so that when the fallboard is swung about its hinges kthe leg 11, which is normally horizontal, will stand upright as indicated in dotted lines, and will close the space between the hinge rail 8 and the bottom of the fall shelf 7.

The cover board 12, which is of angular cross-section, similar to the fallboard 9, has

Renewed June 23, 1.922.

a horizontal leg'13 and a depending vertical.

leg 14C. The horizontal leg 13 is pivoted to the horizontal leg of the fallboard, the pivot or hinge being set back from the outer edge of the leg 11, as shown in the drawing, the hinge being set in a recess 15. This construction is provided so that the horizontal leg 11, when swung up into the vertical position will present a clean finished face 16 without exposing the hinges and also to prevent the hinge from striking the bottom surface of the fall shelf.

The control lever 17 is mounted in the bed member 1 in front of the keyboard 2 in convenient position to be grasped by the hand of the operator of the instrument. A face board, or secondary key slip 18 iinishes the front surface oic the keyboard 2. rlhis face board lies immediately in front of the keys and just back of the control lever 17.

The key slip 19 is recessed or rabbeted as shown at 20; this recess extending conipletely along the length of the key slip and being preferably termed in a rabbeting inachine, provides rooin for the control level` 1T or any other levers or buttons which may be disposed at this point, The vertical leg 11 of the cover board 12 and the key slip 19 are hinged together at their inner edge as indicated at 21.

The operation ot the device is as follows. -When the piano casing is completely closed the parts are in the condition shown in full lines in the ligure. vNhen it is desired to open the piano casing for playing of the device, the cover board 12 with the key slip 19 attached is raised by swinging the cover board 12 about its hinge 2' into the dotted line position shown at 26. rlhe key slip 19 swings by gravity about its hinges 21 and assumes the position shown in dot-ted lines at 26. It will be noted that the outside face ot the key slip is always turned outward and the rear face oi the key slip is not exposed at any time, so that it need not be highly polished. It will be noted that the radial distance of the oute 1most edge of the key slip 19 from the pivot 25 on the hinge rail 8 is substantially the saine as the radial extent of the two limbs of the a-llboard 9. Consequently the tallboard with the cover board and key slip nested together can be 'folded into the inner position as shown in dotted lines in the iigure, exposing the keyboard for manual playing or for automatic playing, as may be desired.

It it is desired only to operate the piano automaticallyv the fallboard need not be disturbed as folding of the cover board and the key slip into the position shown at 26 in dotted line, will be sufficient to expose it-sales the control lever 17 to permit the instrument to be operated automatically.

.l do not intend to be limited to the recise details of construction as shown an do not intend to be limited to the specilied torins and proportions indicated. It is obvious that the corners of the cover board and key slip inapY be rounded so that they are of curved cross-sections rather than angular cross-sections. The essential requirement is that these parts shall he capable of nesting togetheiI and folding out of the way and doing this preferably without exposing the rear and bottoni ot the key slip 19.

l claim:

ln a cover device for player piano heyboard and the control levers thereof, a fallboard having a vertical leg and a horizontal leg ot substantially equal length, a cover board of angular cross section having a horizontal leg hinged at its rear edge to the front edge of the fallboard and substantially as long as the horizontal leg of the fallboard, and a depending leg having an uniinished inner tace and shorter than the vertical leg of the vtallboard, and a key slip having an inner unfinished face hinged to the lower inner edge oi said depending leg and of such a length that when folded will extend from said lower edge substantially to the under face of the horizontal leg of said cover board and in front of the'inner unfinished face of said cover board, whereby said several members are capable of completely enclosing the keyboard and control levers and of being nested into compact fold ed relation, and whereby when said members are in nested relation the inner surface of the depending leg of the cover board and the inner surface of the key slip are both hidden from view.

In witness whereof, I hereunto subscribe my naine this 18th day of February, A. D. 1918.

AXEL G. GULBRANSEN. 

